Published 4:00 am, Saturday, January 10, 2004

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom started his first full day on the job Friday by convening the city Disaster Council and directing municipal departments to update their preparedness plans for earthquakes, terrorist acts and other emergencies.

The council, which last met in October 2001, includes the police chief and fire chief, the heads of the health and social services department, the general manager of the Public Utilities Commission, the head of the Office of Emergency Services, the director of emergency communications, the city controller, city attorney, schools superintendent and other top city administrators who would have to respond to disasters.

Last summer, the civil grand jury criticized San Francisco authorities, saying they were unprepared to deal with emergencies adequately. Drills were too infrequent, equipment was lacking, and communications systems were not foolproof. One of the grand jury's most damning findings was former Mayor Willie Brown's failure to convene the Disaster Council regularly.

At the time, Brown, who left office Thursday, was sharply critical of the grand jury report and said the city was fully prepared to face an emergency situation.

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Nonetheless, one of Newsom's first official acts as the city's new mayor was to schedule the 9 a.m. Friday meeting of the Disaster Council at the city's emergency communications center on Turk Street.

"It was a commitment I made during the campaign to have safety first, as it relates to a fundamental of the mayor's office and my job as chief executive," Newsom said as he toured the center and met employees who answer the 911 calls.

"The Disaster Council is about obviously being prepared for emergencies," he said. "It's about communication. It's about collaboration. It's about best practices within city departments. It's about, I think, showing a united front also to the people of the city and county of San Francisco."

San Francisco "is prepared, has been prepared" for emergencies, Newsom said, but improvements can be made. He wants more frequent training and more regular meetings of the Disaster Council to make sure everyone's working together.

He gave departments until the end of March to update their response plans and wants the Department of Emergency Services to create a new citywide operations plan by the end of June.

He discussed his plan to open a 311 call center, which would serve as a one-stop portal for people needing information and requesting help from city agencies. He suggested that the city look at linking it to a backup 911 center, which may allow San Francisco to tap into federal homeland security funds for emergency system upgrades. San Francisco received $28.9 million this year to pay for equipment, training, planning and drills; another $26 million is expected next year.

That task of coordinating the effort will fall under a new director of emergency services. Lucien Canton, who has held the post for seven years, turned in his resignation Thursday -- the first department head to resign or be fired under the new administration. Newsom has made clear that he expects to shake up the leadership ranks in city government.

He reiterated his plan to oust Police Chief Alex Fagan and conduct a nationwide search for his replacement.

"We're making progress," Newsom said. "We are looking national. We're receiving resumes. We have not excluded consideration from within the department ... and we're looking forward to having a deliberative process and finding someone that can really restore faith and confidence back to this department."

But he said he was in no rush to make the change.

"The department is, I think, being well-managed at the moment, and I'm confident of that," he said. "If I was not confident of that, I would be moving much quicker than we are."

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